We all need forgiveness. Francis underscores the magnitude of God’s power to forgive and the limitlessness of His mercy. He seems to be reassuring himself, and us, that no matter how sinful we feel – and are! – the Father is ready and able to show us mercy and forgiveness.
Each day, God the Father offers us countless moments of grace, but none more profound than the gift of the Eucharist, His beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, given for us. In Holy Communion we receive not only spiritual nourishment, but the living presence of the One who loved us unto suffering, death, and resurrection.
A Prayer Inspired By the Our Father From (The Undated Writings) FA:ED 1:158
St Francis used this passage in the Lord’s Prayer to emphasize our responsibilities under the first commandment, to love God with our whole heart, our whole soul, and our whole strength, and the second, to love our neighbor as ourselves. St Francis’ transcendent strategy of “Seeking Your glory in everything” is expressed in the Canticle of the Creatures, where all creation sings of God.
“Your Kingdom come” is first a prayer for the fullness of God’s everlasting kingdom, but it is also a call to recognize and serve His kingdom already present among us. The kingdom is wherever the King is known, believed in, and worshipped. For those who pray these words, the petition carries both hope and responsibility: Your kingdom come, my kingdom go.
When we pray “holy be Your name,” we ask that God’s name be honored not only by our words, but also by the way we live. St. Francis reminds us that the more deeply we come to know God, the more clearly we recognize His blessings, promises, majesty, and judgments. As we give thanks for His presence in our lives, our relationship with Him deepens.
We can never be certain how St. Francis of Assisi envisioned heaven and the majesty of God. Francis was a medieval man, and his understanding of the cosmos was radically different from ours. But for centuries, Christians had accepted a model of the universe as one constructed with the Earth at the center, and the Sun, the Moon, and the planets in separate, concentric spheres moving outward to the sphere of the stars.
As we continue our celebration of the “Easter of St. Francis,” our attention now turns to his relationship with God. For the theme of this issue of the TAU, we have chosen the Prayer Inspired by the Our Father (FA:ED, vol.1, p.158). This prayer is one of the clearest windows into St. Francis’s inner spirituality: contemplative, Trinitarian, and centered on God’s overflowing goodness. It is an authentic Franciscan text preserved in the earliest manuscript collections and universally accepted by modern scholars.
My very first introduction to a Secular Franciscan was getting to know a gentle soul named Anna. When she described her relationship with God as “intimacy,” I knew that I wanted to have what she already possessed. I wanted to love God as she loved Him. Anna was my living model of loving Christ. She lived her Franciscan life as Francis did: with humility, simplicity and love for others. Although Anna surely knew suffering in her life, she still remained joyful and caring.
The mission of Franciscan Month is to celebrate the 800-year charism of the Franciscan way of life, to build awareness about this way of life, and to invite and inspire people of all faiths to live it. Our intention for 2026 is to promote the Franciscan values of simplicity, care for creation, peacemaking, the dignity and integrity of each person and service to the poor, marginalized and forgotten - especially during this Jubilee Year of St. Francis.